As calls for Netanyahu to stand down came from across the government, business and the opposition, including from Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Netanyahu’s own longtime lawyer, local media reported he would make a public statement Monday morning.

Netanyahu fires defense minister who called for halt to judicial overhaul

An official in Netanyahu’s Likud party who requested anonymity due to ongoing negotiations said that earlier this morning, the prime minister was ready to bow to pressure and halt the reforms. Other Likud officials suggested the move might be frozen at least until the Passover holiday and the parliamentary recess next month, Israeli media reported. But the announcement was postponed amid reports that the prime minister had entered emergency consultations with his coalition partners.

One of his most extreme right-wing allies, Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir warned the prime minister by tweet not to “surrender to anarchy.” Netanyahu’s government holds a four-seat majority in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, and Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party could bring down the government and force new elections if he pulled out of the coalition.

Economy Minister Nir Barkat, a former mayor of Jerusalem, called for coalition members to allow Netanyahu to pause the reform so the government would not collapse.

“I call on all my colleagues in the government, in Likud and the partner parties in the coalition, to unite behind the prime minister and support him in stopping the legislation,” Barkat said in a statement.

Events unfolded Monday at a breakneck pace. Once again, crowds rushed to demonstrate in the front of the Knesset in Jerusalem and to block traffic on Tel Aviv highways. Fears of violent clashes rose as Netanyahu allies called for their supporters to also hit the streets.

“The elections will not be stolen!” tweeted Likud Knesset Member Simcha Rothman, a key architect of the plan. “The people demand a radical overhaul of the justice system.”

One far-right group known for violence, a Jerusalem soccer fan club known as “La Familia,” said it would travel to center of anti-coalition protests in Tel Aviv.

Every hour brought announcement of new strikes and work stoppages.

Netanyahu’s political touch eludes him as Israel spirals into chaos

Israel’s main doctors union said its members would suspend non-emergency health care services. The country’s largest shopping centers closed across the country and fast-food giant McDonald’s said its stores would begin closing all branches starting from 12 p.m.

The spreading chaos came the morning after Netanyahu fired his defense minister, the first member of his cabinet to break with the coalition and call for a halt to the judicial legislation. The nighttime dismissal rocked a country already in turmoil, ratcheting up the backlash to an excruciating pitch.

Within minutes, protesters rushed into streets around the country, vowing to escalate demonstrations and public strikes until the legislative drive is frozen. Police clashed with protesters at several sites, using water cannons, cavalry and other unusually aggressive tactics to push thousands of demonstrators who blocked Ayalon Highway and who massed outside Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence.

Israel’s consul general in New York resigned in a tweet, and Herzog, the ceremonial president, pleaded with the prime minister and the coalition to stop their legislative push with the nation on the edge of catastrophe.

“The security, the economy, the society, everything is threatened,” Herzog said in a statement. “The eyes of all the people of Israel are turned to you.”

Netanyahu’s lawyer and close confident, Boaz Ben Zur, informed the prime minister that he would not continue to represent him in his corruption trial, Israeli media reported Monday morning.

Hard-liners in Netanyahu’s coalition — which includes ultra-Orthodox and ultranationalist settler parties — have continued to push the legislation even as opposition has swelled. On Monday, hours before Netanyahu spoke, a parliamentary committee passed a key element of the plan, a bill that would give the coalition greater control over the selection of judges.

“We don’t need to destroy the country,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said at the start of his party meeting in the Knesset on Monday morning, in which he called on Netanyahu to stop the legislation and enter negotiations under the supervision of the president.

The coalition’s judicial overhaul package would give them greater power to handpick judges, including those presiding over Netanyahu’s corruption trial, in which he is charged in three separate cases and faces potential jail time. Proponents say the changes — long sought by Israel’s growing right wing — are needed because the courts have become too powerful at the expense of elected officials and are hopelessly biased toward the country’s left-wing elite.

Opponents say the moves are an attempt to eliminate one of the only checks on the coalition’s power, a shift that would allow it to make radical changes to society and tilt the country toward authoritarianism.

The plan, announced without warning soon after Netanyahu’s new government took power at the end of December, forced the country to confront long-simmering questions over prioritizing its democratic character or its Jewish one.

Radio bulletins also provide him with information on disease outbreaks, political news and entertainment, he said.

“I don’t trust these new technologies,” he said, referring to social media. “They are full of falsehoods. We saw it during the coronavirus outbreak.”

In many Western countries, conventional radio has been overtaken by streaming, podcasts and on-demand content accessed via smartphones and computers.

But in many of Africa’s 54 countries, with a combined population of 1.3 billion people, traditional radio sets are widely used, highlighting the digital divide between rich countries and those still struggling to have reliable internet.

Radio sets are all over the place in Zimbabwe. Rural livestock herders dangle them from their necks while tending animals while those in the cities listen to their radio sets for news.

When schools closed during the coronavirus pandemic, sub-Saharan African had the highest proportion of schoolchildren who lacked internet connectivity to participate in remote learning online lessons, according to the United Nations children’s agency. Many students relied on lessons beamed via tiny solar-powered radio sets at home.

More than 80% of people in Africa own a mobile phone with access to a mobile phone network, according to Afrobarometer, a leading research institute. But “fewer than half” have mobile phones with internet access. The number of those who have access to computers at home is even lower at 28% of people polled in 34 African countries in a survey on the digital divide published in December last year.

“Closing the digital divide remains a critical issue for most African countries, and for the continent as a whole,” said Afrobarometer.

The lack of internet connectivity means traditional radio “remains king,” said Afrobarometer in another survey last year.

Radio is “overwhelmingly” the most common source of news in Africa, according to the survey. About 68% of respondents said they tuned in at least a few times a week, compared to about 40% who use social media and the internet.

Traditional radio sets are easy and inexpensive to use versus the higher cost and logistical problems of getting access to the internet.

Many small radio sets now come with inbuilt solar panels that allow people to listen to broadcasts even when they don’t have electricity. Especially in vogue are radios that also now come with a cell phone charger and a flashlight — all huge conveniences in a continent where electricity outages are rampant and internet connection spots are often distant.

“People don’t have to worry about network or data expenses. And one can’t be switched off for not paying license fees,” said Stanley Tsarwe, coordinator of journalism studies at the University of Zimbabwe. “The radio set has become very powerful and multi-functional and that becomes critical in Africa where access to power and access to the internet are very limited” he said.

Many people trust information from their radio sets over other sources, said John Masuku, a veteran radio broadcaster of five decades.

“There is a lot of disinformation and misinformation so people still want to check … if it is not said on radio then it is not fact. That is why radio is popular and celebrated in Africa,” he said.

Broadcasts in local languages are also attract radio listeners. Zimbabwe’s state radio and a host of community stations offer broadcasts in Shona, Ndebele and 12 other local languages, he said.

However, the way many in Africa listen to the radio is changing as internet penetration improves. The number of people getting news at least “a few times a week” from either social media or the internet or both has almost doubled from 24% to 43% over the past decade, according to Afrobarometer.

The falling prices of mobile phones that can access FM radio stations is also shifting how people listen to radio in Africa, said Tsarwe of the University of Zimbabwe.

“There is an ongoing convergence between radio and digital mobile technologies, especially the mobile phone,” he said. “Radio is integrating more rapidly with the mobile phone because it is much more accessible in Africa. The mobile phone is the future of radio in Africa.”

Planes will for the moment still be able to land at Ben-Gurion Airport, outside the sprawling seaside metropolis of Tel Aviv.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul has sparked unprecedented opposition from across Israeli society.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s largest trade union group launched a strike across a broad swath of sectors Monday, joining a surging protest movement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the judiciary — a plan that is facing unprecedented opposition.

The strike by the Histadrut umbrella group, which represents more than 700,000 workers in health, transit and banking, among many other fields, could paralyze large parts of Israel’s economy, which is already on shaky ground, ratcheting up the pressure on Netanyahu to suspend the overhaul.

The growing resistance to the plan came hours after tens of thousands of people burst into the streets around the country in a spontaneous show of anger at Netanyahu’s decision to fire his defense minister after he called for a pause to the overhaul. Chanting “the country is on fire,” they lit bonfires on Tel Aviv’s main highway, closing the throughway and many others throughout the country for hours.

The overhaul, driven by Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, and his allies in Israel’s most right-wing government ever, has plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises. It has sparked a sustained and intensifying protest movement that has spread to nearly all sectors of society, including its military, where reservists have increasingly come out publicly to say they will not serve a country veering toward autocracy.

The crisis has further divided Israel, magnifying longstanding and intractable differences over the country’s character that have riven it since its establishment. The protesters say they are fighting for the very soul of the nation, seeing the overhaul as a direct challenge to Israel’s democratic ideals. The government has labelled them anarchists out to topple a democratically-elected leadership.

The crisis has also shined a light on Netanyahu himself, Israel’s longest serving leader, and the lengths he may be willing to go to maintain his grip on power, even as he battles the corruption charges. The firing of his defense minister at a time of heightened security threats in the West Bank and elsewhere, appeared to be a last straw for many, prompting a new surge of opposition.

“Where are we leading our beloved Israel? To the abyss,” Arnon Bar-David, the union group head, said in a rousing speech to applause. “Today we are stopping everyone’s descent toward the abyss.” The group had sat out the monthslong protests but the defense minister’s firing appeared to provide the impetus for the drastic measure.

On Monday, as the embers of the highway bonfires were being cleared, Israel’s ceremonial President Isaac Herzog urged Netanyahu to immediately halt the overhaul, calling on the government to put aside political considerations for the sake of the nation.

“The entire nation is rapt with deep worry. Our security, economy, society — all are under threat,” he said. “Wake up now!”

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a former ally turned rival of Netanyahu’s, said Monday that Israel was “in a landslide of losing control.”

“We haven’t been in such a dangerous situation in 50 years,” he told Israeli Army Radio.

Universities across the country said they were shutting their doors “until further notice.” A trade union umbrella group was expected to announce that it was joining the protesters and was reportedly set to launch a general strike. Israeli media reported that a lawyer representing Netanyahu in his corruption trial threatened to quit if the overhaul was not halted.

The developments were being watched in Washington, which is closely allied with Israel yet has been uneasy with Netanyahu and the far-right elements of his government. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the United States was “deeply concerned” by the developments in Israel, “which further underscore the urgent need for compromise.”

“Democratic values have always been, and must remain, a hallmark of the U.S.-Israel relationship,” Watson said in a statement.

Netanyahu had reportedly spent the night in consultations and was set to speak later Monday. Israeli media said he would halt the legislation, which could not be independently confirmed. Some members of Netanyahu’s Likud party said they would support the prime minister if he did heed calls to halt the overhaul, but the architect of it, Justice Minister Yariv Lavin, a popular party member, has said he would resign.

Netanyahu’s hard-line allies pressed him to continue on. “We must not halt the reform in the judicial system and we must not give in to anarchy,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said.

Netanyahu’s dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant appeared to signal that the prime minister and his allies will barrel ahead this week with the overhaul plan and the committee moving the legislation forward was meeting as planned Monday. Gallant had been the first senior member of the ruling Likud party to speak out against it, saying the deep divisions were threatening to weaken the military.

Netanyahu’s government pledged to forge ahead with a parliamentary vote this week on a centerpiece of the overhaul — a law that would give the governing coalition the final say over all judicial appointments. It also seeks to pass laws that would would grant parliament the authority to overturn Supreme Court decisions and limit judicial review of laws.

A separate overhaul law that would circumvent a Supreme Court ruling to allow a key coalition ally to serve as minister was being delayed following a request from that party’s leader.

Netanyahu and his allies say the plan will restore a balance between the judicial and executive branches and rein in what they see as an interventionist court with liberal sympathies.

But critics say the laws will remove Israel’s system of checks and balances and concentrate power in the hands of the governing coalition. They also say that Netanyahu has a conflict of interest because of his corruption trial.

Netanyahu faces charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate affairs involving wealthy associates and powerful media moguls. He denies wrongdoing and has dismissed accusations that the legal overhaul is designed to find him an escape route from the trial.

Netanyahu returned to power late last year after a protracted political crisis that sent Israelis to the polls five times in less than four years. The elections were all a referendum on Netanyahu’s fitness to serve while on trial for corruption.

Associated Press journalists Laurie Kellman in Tel Aviv and Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

At Sunday’s rally, local environmentalists and residents in the Tseung Kwan O neighborhood in the New Territories demonstrated against the construction of six facilities that they say could be intrusive and bring nuisance to the community. They held signs that read, “No to constructing a cement factory and refuse collection point!”

Organizers estimated a turnout of 80 people; police said 65. Police had put a 100-person limit on the rally.

The strictly controlled march was the first since the Hong Kong government imposed strict limits on crowds and required masks to be worn under pandemic controls.

The organizer of Sunday’s march had to ensure that participants abided by the national security law, which outlaws dissent and comes with the threat of heavy penalties.

They also had to make sure that the participants did not make political statements with their attire — such as carrying yellow umbrellas, the symbol of the pro-democracy demonstrations that brought the city to a standstill in 2019.

In an unprecedented move, participants had to wear lanyards with badges, each printed with a unique number.

Protesters were also banned from wearing face masks to ensure they would be identifiable — and therefore be more prudent in their actions. Journalists were asked to stay beyond the cordon.

Hong Kong ends mask mandate, one of the world’s last

James Ockenden, a 49-year-old British journalist who has lived in the city for two decades, joined the protest with his children. He said the rules, like the cordon tape, were absurd.

“As soon as we came to a corner, the cordon got tangled up. … It was humiliating,” Ockenden said. “It felt like being herded like sheep.”

Before the march, all placards and leaflets were scrutinized by police, said Cyrus Chan, one of the organizers and a member of the Concern Group for Tseung Kwan O People’s Livelihood.

“This is our first pilot test to show the police that Hong Kong people are capable of carrying out a peaceful protest, and that’s why we hope measures implemented in today’s protest will not be a new normal,” Chan said.

In response to the concerns of the protesters, Hong Kong’s Development Bureau stated that it will study the possibility of limiting the scale of the land reclamation and relocating some facilities elsewhere.

“We respect the right to freedom of expression. We have reached out to local residents to listen to their views through various channels,” a spokesperson said.